Plot
Young Thomas is apprenticed to the local Spook to learn to fight evil spirits. His first great challenge comes when the powerful Mother Malkin escapes her confinement while the Spook is away.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 5.9/10 (5,103 voted)
Critic's Score: /100
Director: Sergey Bodrov
Stars: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges
Storyline
John Gregory, who is a seventh son of a seventh son and also the local spook, has protected his country from witches, boggarts, ghouls and all manner of things that go bump in the night. However John is not young anymore, and has been seeking an apprentice to carry on his trade. Most have failed to survive. The last hope is a young farmer's son named Thomas Ward. Will he survive the training to become the spook that so many others couldn't? Should he trust the girl with pointy shoes? How can Thomas stand a chance against Mother Malkin, the most dangerous witch in the county?
Writers: Charles Leavitt, Steven Knight
Cast: Ben Barnes -
Tom Ward
Julianne Moore -
Mother Malkin
Alicia Vikander -
Alice
Kit Harington -
Billy Bradley
Jeff Bridges -
Master Gregory
Djimon Hounsou -
Radu
Olivia Williams -
Mam
Antje Traue -
Bony Lizzie
Jason Scott Lee -
Urag
Kandyse McClure -
Sarikin
David Cubitt -
Rogue Knight
Gerard Plunkett -
Prelate
Julian Black Antelope -
Tomb Robber
Luc Roderique -
Strix
Lilah Fitzgerald -
Cate Ward
Filming Locations: Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The original plan was that the soundtrack would have been composed by Tuomas Kantelinen and A.R. Rahman, but due to the production delays they dropped out in autumn 2013. See more »
User Review
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Rating:
Hollywood has of late had a lousy track record of fantasy action epics,
and 'Seventh Son', which arrives just in time to close off the year, is
yet another blemish to add to that list. Delayed nearly a year while
its production company Legendary switched studios, this Universal
release assembles A-listers Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore with 'The
Chronicles of Narnia' star Ben Barnes for an expensive big- screen
adaptation of the first book of Joseph Delaney's 'The Wardstone
Chronicles' against tawdry sets and second-rate visual effects.
We aren't usually that critical of a film's production design, but
there is just something awfully dreary about the widescreen world of
Russian director Sergei Bodrov's debut English-language feature.
Indeed, the only human city where any of the action takes place looks
like it was rented right after the cast and crew of 'Game of Thrones'
abandoned it, while the mountain fortress which principal villain
Mother Malkin makes her not-so-humble abode seems like it was designed
for some 1960s B-grade science-fiction movie. The ugliness of these
green-screened sets is even more obvious against the occasional
picturesque Canadian backdrops, which cinematographer Newton Thomas
Sigel ably captures to evoke a majestic 'Lord of the Rings' feel.
Alas the unattractive visuals are just one of the litany of complaints
that you are likely to have. What production designer Dante Ferretti
fails to accomplish in sets, visual effects designer John Dykstra also
fails to make up for in post-production. Whether the oversized orcs or
shape-shifting witches (Moore and her fellow consort Djimon Hounsou
transform into dragons, while others transform into creatures with
reptilian-like tongues or Hindu deity-like arms), the CG effects for
what was once intended to be a franchise tentpole are both
unimaginatively conceived and poorly executed, even more appalling when
viewed in post-conversion 3D or worse on an IMAX screen.
And yet to fault its technical shortcomings seems at least a tad
unfair, in particular because the movie's problems are much more
fundamental. For one, despite boasting an impressive team of
screenwriters including Matt Greenberg, Charles Leavitt and Steven
Knight, there is hardly a story here. Without any context, we start
with a younger Jeff Bridges imprisoning the Queen Witch, Mother Malkin
(Moore), up in the mountains. The impending dawn of the once-a-century
blood moon lends her strength to break out of her metal confines, and
in an early sequence, confront her jailer Master Gregory (Bridges) and
his not-so-lucky apprentice Billy (Game of Thrones' Kit Harington).
When that reunion ends with Billy dead, Gregory sets out recruiting a
new "seventh son of a seventh son", Thomas (Barnes), who so happens to
be suffering from elliptic visions of Gregory and Malkin.
In narrative jargon, Thomas is The Chosen One, the anointed protégé who
under the tutelage of Master Gregory will become his very equal and
take his place among the elite group of knights who call themselves the
Falcon. There is no doubt during the movie, even when his life seems to
be in mortal danger, that Thomas will live to see the death of Mother
Malkin and perhaps even the light of another sequel. There is also no
doubt, despite Gregory's initial reservations, that Thomas will be
ready within the span of just seven days to defeat the evil that Malkin
possesses within her goth-like getup. And for that matter, there is no
doubt that Thomas will find true love in Alice (Swedish actress Alicia
Vikander), a witch whom he rescues from the town mob and who turns out
to be the daughter of Malkin's younger sister.
The plotting is as straight-forward as it gets, and functions no more
than to connect the numerous noisy action sequences together. There is
also hardly any character to speak of, each one of them leading or
supporting mere stock types that you would be familiar with from
countless other such fantasy flicks. The latter is also why we feel
sorry for Bridges, a fine actor who's played the grizzled veteran one
too many times of late in 'R.I.P.D.' and 'The Giver' and is here trying
not to sound condescending while delivering lame one-liners with a
distinct twang. Moore too is an equally fine actress in her own right
utterly wasted in a thankless role, and together, what chemistry the
pair had in 'The Big Lebowski' is sorely missing in their first reunion
since.
If the decision to cast two acclaimed actors to lend legitimacy to the
project does nothing to help the film, the casting of its younger
actors also fails to do it any favours. Barnes tries his best to
project fresh-eyed enthusiasm, but the late decision to cast the 31-
year-old actor in the role of a 17-year-old instead of 'The Hunger
Games'' Sam Claflin is ultimately a misguided one. He also shares too
little chemistry with Vikander, who looks appropriately beguiling but
is little much else. Barnes and Vikander are also stuck in an awkward
romance which is bound to inspire some unintended giggles especially
for a sequence where the two supposedly exchange loving glances while
lying together in bed.
There is hardly anything fascinating about 'Seventh Son', whose title
belongs better in a tongue twister than in an expensive and extravagant
swords-and-dragons epic. Yes, there is good reason indeed why former
studio Warner Bros had dragged its feet in releasing this, and what a
relief it must have felt that it need not try to justify why it decided
to do so when it already has an entire trilogy in 'The Hobbit'. No
matter that the director is a two-time Academy Award nominee for his
Russian films 'Prisoner of the Mountains' and 'Mongol', his Hollywood
foray is an embarrassing misstep that he would no doubt want to be
forgotten as soon as possible. He needn't worry; to spare yourself the
agony of sitting through yet another disappointing fantasy wanna-be
epic, go find any one of the other sons and just avoid the Seventh.
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